San Jose’s 4-3 Game 4 overtime victory didn’t come without controversy.
At 13:03 of overtime, Canucks forward Daniel Sedin was sent to the box for boarding Sharks forward Tommy Wingels. The problem here, however, is the play didn’t look like much of a penalty at all. A mere 15 seconds later, Patrick Marleau was putting a rebound past Cory Schneider and into the net sending the Sharks to the second round and the Canucks home for the summer.
Penalty or not? Have a look for yourself.
After the game, referee Kelly Sutherland told TSN’s Farhan Lalji he deemed Sedin’s play a violent shove into the boards in which the player (Wingels) couldn’t defend himself.
Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa told the Vancouver Sun’s Brad Ziemer: “You see that every 30 seconds in the St. Louis-Los Angeles series and you don’t see any of those calls.”
The call didn’t cost Vancouver the series, but it certainly cost them the game and a chance to stay alive a little longer.
